DOCSIS 2 for upload is normal and better than 1.x that some use (Time Warner in some places). They are upgrading though so guess most people wont see that. Using 1.x also is good in some areas where there's lots of noise on the line. On Comcast with multiple upload channels you'll see a mixture of 1.x and 2.0 A-TDMA and such to help get the most out of the available frequencies they have.

As for DL - I would have told you not to bother with the new splitter as I said your option is to try connecting closer to the line that is connected outside. Since you said that line is way too long anyways, you might want to get a direct run if possible. Dunno your house layout or how far away but basically that's what you need to do. With the splitter though, did you get a 5-1000mhz one from radioshack? Sometimes they have some crappy ones too anyways.

Even if only temporary, connect the modem to the tap even if that means just running a cable thru the window just to see how strong the power is at that connection by the Verizon box.That way you know what you can expect. If it's crappy there not much can be done and you'll just have to get Cablevision there. They will however say that since you aren't really having an issue it's not a problem (and in reality it's not) but just something to keep an eye on, don't stress too much about it till you start getting disconnects Keep an eye on your SNR mostly as that's where trouble starts happening when it gets below 30 - 33 and up being best - See mine below of how good you want it to be (might not be possible however )

Here are mine in case you were curious:

Here are my Labor Day weekend Sunday afternoon results in an apartment building area with lots of people home. I'm on 5Ghz WiFI.

Is that outside? They left the cable open to the elements like that? Without a weather sealed box or anything? The cable back homewas in a properly sealed intake box and started to have oxidation on the copper in the wire. They found out while fixing our line and when he unplugged it, some guy from the office saw that all the noise they had on the whole network went away.

Yeah no issues whatsoever, even with the not so great signals. Download speeds are still great, in fact I hit a new high the other day on Newsgroups of 8.3, so yeah, I am a happy camper. IF I get even a second of loss, I will no doubt be calling and raising hell, but luckily no need. But yeah, still getting pretty much the EXACT speeds I am paying for.And I have to say, I am MUCH happier overall with Optimum. Never thought that would be the case, but they truly offer the better services overall.I did not think I would utilize it whatsoever, but being able to watch TV on either my iPad, Laptop, or the Kindle (which BTW, already got the free Kindle Fire they offered me for switching), really has come in handy. Like on Monday night Football, my wife really wanted to watch something on TV, so I said you know what, go ahead, I will put the game on the iPad. I had the iPad playing MNF as I was playing some Zen Pinball 2 on my Vita, really could not have been any geekier.

Add in the free WiFi hotspots, which my area seems to have a whole lot of, and seriously, especially when considering I am saving $45 a month. The cost savings vs the new features I am now getting, yeah, totally 110% satisfied, even with the bad signals.

The Optimum tech came out today, and he was able to get the signals on my modem a bit closer to 0 than they were previously...

So that basically required a full swap of all of the hardware on the outside of my house. Splitters, connections, etc. etc.

He also said there is a piece of equipment on my block that is only temporary and was put up due to Hurricane Sandy. If I heard the name of it I could say yes that was it, but it is basically the component that is on the pole. Right now it is somehow coming out of the ground? I can take a pic of it tomorrow if anyone is really that interested in knowing what it is. But he said that may help matters a bit as well. And come to think of it, I really only started getting these little split second drops since the Hurricane. So hopefully that is a factor in everything.

So basically the only other option I have if I want my signals any better is to somehow rewire the inside of my house. He basically said the only way that is going to happen is if I continue to keep dropping connections to the internet or cable.

So will see how things play out, but I do have to say, I am still very please with Optimum overall. No doubt about it. They responded super quick to all of this (I called Friday night at 10 PM, and they had someone out Sunday afternoon at 1 PM). And it is not like things were not working during that time, as they were.

Well, I didn't see the need to start a whole new thread, just figured I would update this one...
I am switching back to FIOS.
On the 26th, I will now be a FIOS Quantum customer.

Few reasons for doing so...
Better speeds. Will be going from 50/8 to 75/35. That is pretty damn sweet.
Reliability. I have had several outages unfortunately with Optimum. About 10 overall. 2 of those was the 1 day a week my wife works from home.
One of those outages was over an hour long. Not to cool.
When I was a FIOS customer previously, and I was one for over 4 years, I had zero outages that entire time. So that actually is playing a big role in everything.

Also a few other things, multi-room DVR, a few more movie channels. Etc. It is more per month then what I was paying for Optimum, but all of the above makes up for that fact. I also am locked in for life with the current deal I have but with their normal 2 year contracts. If I did the month to month, would not have gotten as good of a deal as I did. And even though it is more than I pay now, it is not more then what I was paying Verizon when I left, and I got much less then I do currently. Verizon is definitely changing their ways, at least in my area.

I don't have FiOS available here either. I actually have Optimum Ultra! And for some reason, I feel as if 101Mbps isn't even enough for me, or it's just not giving me the full throttle that I desire, or it's just me, I've had it give me straight downloads before. It once went up to 6 to 8MB/s somewhere.